it's autumn now. instead of leaves falling, you can hear burt bacharach singing in the distance:

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed Nothin' seems to fit Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'

So I just did me some talkin' to the sun And I said I didn't like the way he got things done Sleepin' on the job Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'

But there's one thing I know The blues they send to meet me won't defeat me It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red Cryin's not for me 'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin' Because I'm free Nothin's worryin' me

It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red Cryin's not for me 'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin' Because I'm free Nothin's worryin' me

Well i'm actually worried because my laundry is not dry yet.

Today wasn't really that dramatic. The only drama I get is when I come home, make myself dinner, and sit in front of the TV and flip through the channels. The only channel that works shows only "Home and Away." Lame show.

Yesterday at my research class I submitted my research proposal: Social Impact on Multilingualism in Sabah.

Since then I've been thinking whether or not what I wrote corresponded with the title. !#$$%@%^^&

Like a buoy, a drunken fairy bounces inHoot! Hoot! Owls quiverwishing they were not nocturnal anymorepossums scamper into garbage binsTwo nights ago she camewith feathersLast night she came in a glittery hatBut the other day I was sitting with her at the same tableshe looked unprettyshe was sprawled over her booksasleep

Tomorrow my classes will be running from 9 in the morning till 4 in the evening. I'll be running home for lunch in between. It's good to be living close to school.

Just for fun let me show you how my schedule is like:Monday - Research from 4 pm to 5 pmTuesday - Class at 12 noon for an hourWednesday - Classes from 9 am to 4 pmThursday - Class from 3 pm to 5 pmFriday - NOTHING :)

A week has gone by and we still don't have internet. I'm now at the library using their wireless. This week has been quite similar to other weeks. Classes, headaches after classes, sleepless nights, rice... I did get to hang out more with some of my classmates which was really great. At least I'm reaching out to people outside of my house.

I'm sitting on a couch enjoying wireless

Some picts:

my honkey-australia (has been living here for most of her lifetime) housemate... great photographer!

the sofas i'm sitting on right now

Korean housemate, Joo, with his macbook...

ME!!!! senyuman malu malu

okay unrelated pictures:

Thank you Stella for the Easter-Chocolate package

Okay, so my laptop was broken but now it's fixed. Hp sent their technician to my house to replace my LCD screen and keyboard. I had this assumption that technicians don't get much... but look at what the cat dragged in.... the HP TECH GUY CAME WITH A SPORTSCAR!!!

This is my australian housemate... really great artist (painter/drawer)

I'm in the Auchmuty Information Centre. I got to talk to a few friends over the internet. There are so many Chinese in the library I don't know why they're here. There's this guy sitting next to me. He's listening to music. He has his earphones but I can still hear the music he's listening to. He's grooving along with the music. He's in HIS zone. I don't want to be in HIS zone.

I'm trying to write this "short answer" for one of my assignments. The lecturer wants this short answer to be a page long. She didn't specify whether it should be single spaced whatsoever. After completing the previous sentence, I quickly emailed the lecturer and asked whether there was any particular format she'd like her students to follow. She's been here for a month and a half. She's new, like me.

I got a book from Bangkok last Christmas. It was a gift from Switz and Dustin. The book is entitled, "The Curios Incident of the Dog in the Night Time." The story is written based on the stream of consciousness of a special boy. I forgot what his name was but anyway this boy had special needs. He's always thinking and applying mathematical concepts in his everyday meanderings (I'm not so good with math... it was a miracle I understood what the narrator was saying).

I did get a little irrated at the boy@narrator@main character. I saw him more like a protagonist/antagonist. I symphathized the father. The mother should've have just disappeared. It's a good book. Too bad I didn't bring my other books to read. Well I'll have more time to read other academic stuff. Not that the book wasn't academic. Reading books help you write better. Know that.

I'll be back again tonight. The people of 26 Heaton Street are dropping by the library for internet.

We're getting our phone line hooked up Monday next week. That brings us one step closer to getting our internet connection.

A half eaten applesits on a counterbacteria working their magicit's browning

I woke up this morning and it was cold. I think I mentioned in my previous post that it's Autumn here now. The nights are cold but the days are still warm, sometimes too worm, like right now. I am wearing a long-sleeved shirt to keep me warm from the low temperature a few hours back but now there's no point in wearing it anymore. I might as well go around shirtless. Nobody will care... but of course my upbringing and my culture's norms will stop me from doing so.

I'm having TESOL curriculum and methodologies in an hour's time. We have our class near some of the music laboratories. We always have bands playing different genres of music from next door classrooms fill the air during class time.

I've been talking to some of the locals and they told me it does get really cold in winter, but the temperature will never drop below 0. I'm not sure whether to take that as comforting news or not. I went to check out the prices of heater fans and electric blankets but I was told those things will use up a lot of power. I don't want to make my other housemates pay for extra bills just so I can keep warm. I'll get myself some hot water bottles... and wear three sweaters to bed.

The area where I'm living has a lot of white parrot-like birds which have a light green shade under its wings. I'm not sure what these birds are called but they make an awful lot of noise. You don't need your alarm clock to wake you up in the morning, they'll do the job for you. Recently, in one of my classes we were distinguishing human language and animal language. Bird calls and songs a language? Depending on my level of annoyance, I would readily classify them as noise.

Some pictures to end this post:

The night before I left for Australia, I had big apple donuts. I dragged my mom out just to buy these. :)

I think this picture was taken during orientation, this is right outside the Auchmuty Information Centre (it's not center anymore here... Australian spelling!)

This was taken outside one of the Student Service Centers they have on campus (This one is the Hunter Hub).

This is the inside of the Auchmuty Information Center. It's under the Auchmuty Library. It has a lounge area, a cafe, a newspaper reading area, printing area, photocopying area, locker area, and tonnes of computers.

tall, short, skinny, buff, well-endowed, flat, dark, tanned, fair (the so called whites don't actually have white skin... I think this applies to the rest of us)

That was the sight that greeted me when I first stepped out of the plane. There were so many people. It would have been really intimidating if there were only Caucasians, thank goodness the Asians and Middle-Easterns and Africans made their way here.

Sydney Airport isn't really big. It's like the KK Terminal 2, but much older and more packed. I was the Airbus A380, and there were about four hundred of us in the plane. The seat next to me was empty. I watched two movies and the cabin crew served us both dinner and breakfast. I couldn't sleep through the plane ride because of the movies I was trying to watch and there was this old lady who needed to talk... at 1 AM in the morning.

Well at the Sydney airport there were so many people (because we're not the only ones that just landed). Customs were just 500 meters away from baggage pick up but it took me a whole hour to get through. Speaking of customs, I was watching this TV show a couple of days ago, it's about Australian Customs Service at the airports. There was this Malaysian Banker (from semenanjung) and he brought A LOT OF FOOD. You know those little pieces of paper where you have to declare the food you bring into this country, well the guy didn't declare/own up to the food that he brought along. When they had his suitase (and his wife's) x-rayed, they found so much food. I mean literally, from fresh food to packed food. The customs officer then started interrogating and asking why the guy didn't declare the food he brought. The guy said, "because I'm ignorant." The officer then asked him what does he do for a living, and he told her that he was a banker and his wife was a secretary. The officer then asked the guy if both him and his wife were ignorant, and the guy stammered a "yes."

I, on the other hand, declared what I brought. I didn't bring food, just medication for my acne, which checked through just fine.

I got into the arrival hall and quickly bought a sim card then made my way to the subway. I took the train to the Central Train Station and had to heret or in English, drag or whatever synonyms that would be more appropriate to platform who-knows-where-the-damned-platform-is. It took me about half an hour to look for the platform and I had to climb down and climb up stairs...

It took me three hours to get to Newcastle, stayed in the hotel for five nights, not quite a wise thing to do because it was 70 bucks per night and I was running low on cash. Spend 60 dollars just on taxi the first day... I bought a map later on and made my way around by foot (very wise). On the first day I was look for the uni and I ended up on the free way with cars going 100KM/H.

On Thursday I finally found a place to stay. This is the address: 26 Heaton Street, Jesmond 2299, NSW, Australia, The Universe

Friday I moved in, and met one of the housemates. His name is Matthew David Krempin and he's 19 and he's way taller than me and he's a little carefree about his lifestyle (unlike me who likes things to be mostly in order) but I'm fine living with a guy like him. At least I'll have dishes to wash when I'm bored.

There's a supermarket not far from where I live. There are donuts for sale there BUT I WOULDN'T BUY THEM UNTIL I GET A JOB because it's like 3 dollars each. That's like almost 9 ringgit MYS!!!! mati anak orang

I am beginning to notice that this entry has many flashbacks, so bear with me. Remember the story, "The New Dress" by Virginia Woolf. The story is mainly about the main character's stream of consciousness.

I just stared at an Indian girl who was staring at me.

The buildings here are a mix of new and old. So are the furniture.

I got lost yesterday looking for my classroom. I felt like an idiot trying to figure out the map of the university but felt much better after I found the classroom.

I'll be trying to post daily blog entries from now on. Just to keep my mind from going insane and to burn time.

By the way I don't have any finals this semester. Something which I find quite tough to grasp since I come from an education background which REQUIRED FINAL EXAMS FOR EVERY SINGLE CLASS!!!

It's Friday. It's 8:00 pm here now. I'm at the Auchmuty Information Center. This place has tonnes of computers for students to use and it's open 24 hours. Well, it's only opened till ten pm tonight, but good enough. I'm using my broken laptop by the way. By the way, thank goodness for HP and their online customer service. I'll be getting a new screen and a new keyboard for my laptop in the next couple of days. tepuk tangan!!!

Here are some pictures of my room...

This is the dining room

This is the living room

That's me

My room

Room from another angle.

by the way i have more pictures to upload but my broken laptop just turns off my desire to blog... my screen has crazy colors... okay till then!! :D